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An ABC vice-President writes !

ABC vice-President recently visited Nigeria and discovered local people protecting their native forests. This is his account of what he found:

As I travel in tropical countries I get a bit disillusioned seeing wonderful old trees being felled and local communities hassled by those wanting to fell their local forests - mostly to meet rising demand from China. So good news at last!

Illegal rosewood traders were targeting people in Nigeria, encouraging them to earn a living from logging. To combat this, Nigeria Conservation Foundation helped local people to set up five community forests where they can earn a sustainable income without destroying vital habitats - making honey and other products.

Some communities went as far as using judiciary means to ensure that their communal forest reserve remained intact (see photo). Site Support Groups and Local Forest Scouts were also established to continuously monitor the forest. A Forest Management Committee ensures that responsible communal decisions are made in consideration of present and future generations.

How great to hear that good can outweigh bad in a world where most people are having to work harder to make ends meet. Inspiring!

In honour of International Women’s Day, we invited Awatef Abiadh to share her insight from interviews with motivated and brave women who lead on conservation projects in developing countries in the Mediterranean. Get ready to be inspired…

Many of you will know that Martin died on Sunday 24th February 2019, relatively peacefully, having been diagnosed with untreatable cancer in September 2018. The end came very quickly with all the family here, and until recently his quality of life was not too bad.

He was very stoical, and at least it gave him time to organise things, his favourite / best books went off to auction in October, and he was delighted when his archive went to the Natural History Museum at Tring where it might be of use to others.

The 41,000 ha Tsitongambarika forest is one of Madagascar’s few remaining stands of humid lowland forest, a globally unique ecosystem with 80 – 90 per cent of its life made up of endemic species.

But it’s also an ecosystem under threat, ringed by villages comprising over 60,000 people and under pressure from illegal timber exploitation and encroachment by slash-and-burn agriculture and other forms of shifting cultivation.